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suttassa
sutta
nt dat sg of sutta (noun); nt gen sg of sutta (noun); masc dat sg of sutta (pp); nt dat sg of sutta (pp); …
- sleeping; asleep; lit. slept
- lying down; sleeping; lit. slept
- lying down; sleeping; lit. slept
- scripture; discourse; sacred text; lit. thread
- (vinaya) rule; regulation; precept
- thread; string
- (gram) grammatical rule
Built from
- su — root · sew, stitch
The root su (to sew or thread) appears in sutta as the concrete image of joining or stringing together. Cognates: Sanskrit sūtra, Latin suere, English suture — all from the same Indo-European root for sewing.
- tta — ending · past participle
The -ta ending marks a past participle or adjective. In sutta, it creates 'sewn' or 'strung together', hence 'thread' and by extension 'discourse' or 'precept'.
Etymology. From √su (sew, stitch) with past participle ending -ta. Sanskrit sūtra; cognate with English suture, Latin suere (to sew). The original concrete sense 'thread' extended metaphorically to 'discourse' (a thread of teaching) and 'rule' (rules strung together).